Pandemonium
by Cosette Belmont
Summary: When six of the newsies are somehow transported to the year 2007, they endure iPods, Albertson's, the Spongebob T.V. show, and get sent to court... Again. Along the way, they meet three newsies fangirls. BEING REWRITTEN.
1. Newsies Fetish

**Author's Note -** This chapter is a bit long, but it gives you a good idea of what the characters are like. This story is not going to be like regular alternate universe "Newsies" fanfictions... Later, you'll see why... :)

**Disclaimer -** I do not own "Newsies" or "Monopoly". I do own Kaitlyn, though, since that's me. XD Sarah belongs to herself, and Kristina belongs to herself. Mittens really _is _one of my two cats, and yes, he's whiney. :)

**Chapter I - Newsies Fetish**

"...That ain't good enough, Jacky-boy. You gotta show me," a brunette-haired girl quoted with the movie that was playing on the large flat plasma-screen T.V.

"You know this movie inside out, don't you, Kate?" a tall girl with short blonde-and-brown-streaked hair asked, stifling a laugh. Her pajamas consisted of a baggy baby blue t-shirt and a pair of matching pants with silvery stars printed onto the flannel.

"...Umm... I guess so," Kate responded quietly, grinning sheepishly, her blueberry eyes sparkling like the ocean. She was wore a slightly fitted babydoll shirt with a picture of an innocent-looking white anime cat printed on it. Her shorts were matching gray with a kitten printed in the lower outer corner of the bottom of the shorts. She looked over at her friends.

One girl seated on the floor on top of her sleeping bag, while the other girl was laying on the love seat. They were having a sleepover in the basement of Kate's large blue house.

Kate wasn't her real name, though. It was her nickname. Her real name was Kaitlyn, but her friends always called her 'Katie' or 'Kate', which she seemed to like.

"Oh, you! How many times have you seen 'Newsies'? Fifty? Sixty?" This time, the girl with the short licorice black hair seated upon the love seat spoke.

Looking down at her feet and blushing, she shyly replied. "...More than that..." was all her friends were able to decipher through Kate's muttering.

"And I thought _I_ was obsessed 'Newsies'!" the blonde-and-brown-haired girl one said, nudging Kaitlyn playfully, who was sitting on the ground next to her.

The girl with the multicolored hair was Kristina, the sort-of-hyper girl of the friendship trio. Her hair reached down to her chin. She stood about five feet and seven inches tall, and had slightly fair skin.

"Oooh, oooh! David's gonna sing! Kristina, Sarah!" Kaitlyn squealed as she got into her dancing position. This was one of the few times she could be very weird and dorkish. She looked back at her two friends. "Oh! ...Um... I guess you don't have to dance with me, if you don't want to...!" her voice faded as she gave her friends a half-hearted smile and turned back to the screen.

"I'll dance with you, Kate," Kristina said as she stood up and beamed at her shy friend.

"Come on, Sarah! Dance with us! Please...?" Kristina asked, her large, chocolate eyes turning gray with disappointment as Kate paused the movie.

"Not the puppy eyes!" Sarah exclaimed, a smile forming on her pink face as she covered her eyes with her arms.

"Mrow?" asked a voice that made the three girls jump a few feet into the air.

"Whoa! Jeez! Oh, it's just Mittens! Dang! He scared me!" Sarah said, dramatically clutching her chest like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Meow," he retorted loudly in his oh-so-whiney cat voice.

Mittens was one of Kaitlyn's two cats. He was a tan and ginger colored oci cat. Very sweet, but also very, very, very annoying and whiney. Mitty, as they sometimes called him, weighed a whopping twenty-one pounds, but was also as sweet as a Hershey's chocolate bar and as soft and cuddly as a teddy bear.

"We need more popcorn, drenched in butter!" Kristina said, a crazed look in her eyes. "I feel like having more sugar too! I want to get a sugar rush!"

By now, Kristina was running around the basement room in circles like a dog trying to chase its tail.

"What do you think, Katie?" Sarah turned to Kaitlyn, giving her a funny piggy face. Katie looked down and slightly shrugged.

"Well, if you'll dance with us for 'Seize the Day', then yes," Kristina smirked.

Sarah folded her arms across her chest. "You know I'm horrible at dancing!" she whined.

There were a few moments of total silence.

"Fine," she huffed in defeat. She loved the dance to 'Seize the Day', but she (as well as everyone else) knew that dancing was not one of her talents.

"Thanks, Kristina!" Kaitlyn smiled. "I'll start the popcorn machine, first, though! I'll be back in a few minutes! Or, you can come with me, if you'd like."

"We're good," Sarah said. "I'll dig the candy out of my backpack while you make the popcorn."

"Don't forget to drench it in extra butter!" Kristina called as Kaitlyn headed up the stairs.

"All right!" Kaitlyn replied as she made her way up the stairs.

Sarah began poked around in her bag, digging out her vast candy stash.

-:-

"Ready?" Sarah asked, as she and her friends got into their dance positions. Kristina nodded, and Kate unpaused the movie. They all sang and danced happily to the song, and munched on the popcorn and the snacks Kate and Sarah had retrieved for them.

Throughout the movie, Kate quoted everything all of the characters said, as usual. They sat there, eyes transfixed on the television screen.

They had the house all to themselves, which was located in the heart of Los Angeles, California.

Kaitlyn's father and mother were attending a relatives' wedding in eastern Montana. Kate's younger eleven-year-old brother, Taylor, was staying over at his best friend's house. He and Avery were like twins. They both had a nerdy sort of passion for video games, but particularly 'Sonic the Hedgehog' and 'Mario' games. They had been the best of friends ever since they first met in the third grade. They talked alike. They dressed almost exactly alike. They even looked alike, which was a bit scary! Maybe they were long-lost twins or something...? Who knew?

By the time the movie had ended, the clock read 11:03 p.m. They turned off the T.V. and sat there a few moments.

Kristina looked around the room and raised an eyebrow, a sly grin plastered onto her face. "I challenge you two to a competition..."

"Of what?" Sarah asked suspiciously.

"...AIR HOCKEY!" Kristina yelled suddenly, racing over to the air hockey table.

"Yay! I go first!" Sarah called, running over to the table as well.

"...Um... I think I'll watch the first round," Kate said quietly. Her head was down, but she was smiling. Her friends were the coolest in the world. Probably the most hyper, too, though.

"You sure, Kate?" Kristina folded her arms and gave her shy friend a funny look.

Kaitlyn responded with a small yet distinctive nod.

-:-

"Oh yah! I totally rock!" cried Sarah, performing her famous victory dance. She spun around in a few circles while jumping and did the cabbage patch.

"Good job!" Kate said, smiling at Sarah. "You did really great!"

"Aww, thanks, Katie!"

Kristina stuck her tongue out. "I'm going to beat you next time, Sarah!" She punched her friend playfully.

Sarah snorted. "You wish!"

"...Hey...! I know...!" Kate piped up. "Would you two like to play poker...?"

"Uhh..." Both rowdy girls exchanged glances.

"...Using Monopoly money, of course...! Not real money or anything like that...!"

"Sure!"

"Okay!"

Kaitlyn made her way over to the wooden oak bookshelf. Reaching up, she pulled down two things. First, a deck of Arizona playing cards. Second was the Monopoly board game. She and her two friends sat in a circle.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can I take the money out and divide it?" asked Kristina.

"...Uh... Sure...!"

"I'll deal the cards, if that's okay," Sarah spoke slowly.

Kate nodded and began to roll her sleeves up. "Okay, remember, girls... Roll up your sleeves...!"

"Wait... Why do we do that again?" asked a confused Kristina.

"So we're sure nobody cheats. Duh, Kristina!" Sarah stated, as if it was completely obvious.

"Oooohhhh... Okay then." Kristina rolled her sleeves back as well. She looked back down to the Monopoly box and opened it. She began to split and pass out even amounts of the colorful paper money.

Sarah pushed her sleeves back as she began shuffling the deck. "Five cards?"

"Yup!"

When Sarah was finished, Kate cut the deck. Sarah started to pass out cards to each player. One each, two each, three each, four each, five each...

They each contributed ten Monopoly dollars to the pot, then looked at their cards, hiding them from each other's sight.

Kristina was up first. She looked around at her opponents. "I'll take two," she said, laying two facedown cards onto the table and placing some more fake cash into the pot.

Sarah took them and handed her two more.

"...Three, please," Kate said when it was her turn, also contributing to the money pile.

"I guess I'll have one," Sarah said, after putting a few Monopoly dollars into the pot. She switched a card with a new one from the deck.

This continued on for a while.

Finally, it was time.

"Okay," Sarah began, smiling slyly. "I have _this_," she said, placing her five cards onto the floor. It was a royal flush. "Let's see what _you_ got now, girl!"

Kristina had dropped out of the game, since her hand wasn't very good this round.

"All right..." Kate laid down her cards leisurely, her poker face masquerading her expressions.

"A PAIR OF TWOS?" Kristina howled, her eyes widening with astonishment. "I can see how I was beat by a straight flush... But... A pair of twos? _I_ had a pair of _threes_! Yikes! I must be the worst poker player ever!"

Kaitlyn smiled sheepishly and looked down at the floor.

"Looks like I win!" Sarah smuggled the money from the center and placed it over in her pile of Monopoly dollars. "Now... Who's ready for round two?"

-:-

For about an hour and a half, they continued to play poker. Sarah won about a third of the rounds, Katie won a little over a third of the rounds (she loved playing poker, and played it a lot with her family. With Monopoly money, of course), and Kristina won the rest. They had shuffled the deck of cards and put it and the Monopoly game back onto the fifth shelf of the bookcase.

"I'm so tired... BLECH!" Kristina yawned as she let herself fall onto the floor. She fell asleep instantly.

"Wow. That was quick," Sarah commented, laughing. "I guess her sugar high wore off."

"Yah," Kate giggled. "I guess we had better get to sleep as well, though... It looks like it's about 1:37 in the morning...! We're going to be really tired tomorrow..." The clock was a fancy new black one. It was one of those clocks that had those sticks sticking up from them and would go back and forth very quickly, like the wings of a hummingbird, as it displayed the time (and personal messages that you program it to show) when it went back and forth.

Kate switched off the lights and let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the basement family game room. She and Sarah went and lay inside of their sleeping bags, Kaitlyn on the floor, and Sarah on the couch. The only thing that could be heard was the heavy summer rain pounding down on the large house and the minor snores from Kristina.

"Anyone else having trouble sleeping?" Sarah faintly asked to no one in particular, rolling onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

"I am," Kaitlyn said, hugging a pillow to her chest, heaving a sigh.

There were a few minutes of silence.

"Who's your favorite newsie, Sarah?" Kaitlyn asked, though she knew the answer. Since they couldn't sleep, she thought that maybe if they talked for a while, it might make them sleepy.

"I dunno," she sighed. "Either Jack or Spot. You?"

"Well... I like Spot... He's really cool... Mush is a really amazing dancer... Or Racetrack... He's pretty funny, like my dad. And he likes poker, too..." she said bashfully.

"You know, it woulda been pretty funny to see Spot and Race do an, ahem, _trust_," Sarah said, causing them both to laugh hysterically.

"Can you imagine Spot singing 'Carrying the Banner' and doing one of them?" she asked, laughing hysterically.

"Oh, you know how David was staring at Medda when he watched her perform 'Lovey-Dovey Baby'?"

"Yah?"

"Well… What if _David_ was the one singing it?"

"Oh, lord! That'd scar me for life!" she whispered in between giggles. "Especially if he wore Medda's dress!"

"Yah... That's so funny!"

"Mm-hmm...!"

"Ahh... I think I'm ready to go to sleep now. 'Night, Katie."

"Good night, Sarah."

They at last fell into slumber and dreamt of the things they had discussed earlier.

-:-

Kaitlyn awoke at three thirty-five in the morning needing a glass of water, since her throat was dry and sore. She exited the basement family room and climbed up the flight of stairs, up into the kitchen. She yawned and stretched her arms a little as she made her way over to the cupboard. Opening it up, she grabbed a small glass.

"...Ugh..." she groggily moaned as she walked over to the sink and turned on the faucet. When her glass was just about full, she switched the faucet off. "...I'm so tired... I shouldn't have stayed up that late..." She took a few sips of her water and dumped the rest down the drain. "I'm going to go get Jack," she mumbled to herself.

She turned right and into the living room, made her way down the little corridor, and squeaked her bedroom door open. Flicking the light switch on, she rubbed her large doe-like eyes with both hands. "There you are, Jack," she said, gently picking up a small stuffed dog. It was a black and brown dog with a red bandana around its neck. Kaitlyn had bought it a little over two years ago, just because it was so adorable. And now, she was really glad she had, since it wore a scarf like Jack's from her favorite movie, "Newsies".

Looking into its chocolate brown eyes, she stood there a few minutes, just thinking.

It was the beginning of July of the year 2007, and it had been almost a year now of Newsie obsessive-ness for her. She fondly remembered how she began to adore that musical. During the middle of last August, Kaitlyn had gone to a weeklong drama camp that she and her parents had signed her up for. As it turned out, they were performing "Newsies", a musical that Kate had never heard of before. The first things of "Newsies" she discovered were the songs they would perform on the stage. The first song they heard was "Santa Fe", then "Seize the Day", then "Carrying the Banner", and she fell in love with the songs. Her mother rented the movie for her to watch, to get a better sense of what she was going to perform. And after viewing it the first time, she began worshiping it. She watched it over. And over. And over. And over. Then, she bought it from a local store, Hastings. Then she watched it over. And over. And over. And over. It drove her little brother crazy. On a regular basis, Taylor, her brother, threatened to burn the DVD. But, that's just how younger siblings are... Right...?

Turning off the bedroom light, she followed the path back to the basement. She silently descended the stairs, as not to wake her friends, and made her way over to her sleeping bag.

"Ow!" whispered Kristina's voice. "You stepped on my hand!"

"Sorry, Kristina!" Kaitlyn whispered back as her friend closed her eyes to continue sleeping. Kate took another step towards her sleeping bag.

"Ow!" she heard. "My foot!"

"Sorry," she apologized. After a moment, she froze. She didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't Kristina's, and it certainly wasn't Sarah's. It was a boy's voice. Her already pale skin turned an ethereal white. She slowly crept over to a lamp over on her father's computer desk and flicked it on. What she saw made her eyes widen and her jaw drop. "...Oh... My... Yevon..."


	2. Did Brittany Send You?

**Author's Note -** Yay! I'm very excited to finally be doing an alternate universe fanfiction:D I've been reading a_ ton_ of them lately, and now I know why so many people write them. They are so fun for the authors to write and really fun for the readers to read! I have read a whole bunch of amazingly witten time-travel fics out there, but I was a bit disappointed to see that some of the authors quit writing them. So, for all of the people out there in the audience (and for my friends and I of course, hehe) I will not quit this fanfic. I'm going to stick with it! You have my pledge. :)

**Disclaimer - **Sadly, I do not own "Newsies" or any of the characters in it. :( The song "Coin Operated Boy" isn't owned by me, either. It belongs to The Dresden Dolls band. Kaitlyn (me) and Brittany Andrews (original character) belong to me, Kristina and Sarah and Britney Spears (chills sent up Kabellia's back) belong to themselves.

**Shout-Outs -**

RibbonHeidster - Thank you _so_ _much_! And yah, I didn't want the intro to be _too_ long, or it would bore everyone. But I also didn't want it to be too _short_, either... :)

sharpieKD - Thank you! I'll update whenever I can:D

xLittlexItalyx - Thanks! Well, here, you get to (sort of) see what happens next. :)

sweets09 - Thank you! I am so glad you like my story:D

Heavenly Princess - Thanks! I hope you enjoy this next chapter:)

**Chapter II - Did Brittany Send You?**

"...Oh... My... Yevon..." Kate's face displayed the perfect imitation of a deer in headlights that was about to be run over. She froze in place, not budging an inch.

What she saw was a pack of six confused-looking boys standing around, dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Each one let out a scream of shock when they saw her.

Sarah instantly jolted upward to see what the noise was about and let out a scream. "HOLY LLAMA SAUCE!" Sarah screamed again as she began to hyperventilate.

"..._Agh_... Put a lid on it, Sarah...! I'm trying to _sleep_..." Kristina mumbled irritably through her fluffy down pillow.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the male-sounding voices shrieked back.

"What the heck...?" Kristina rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up. "What's all this noise about...?" Then she saw the boys, and her eyes expanded twice their normal size. She only spoke one word. Her oh-so-famous yet overused phrase. "Gasp...!"

"Who're-" one boy began, but was interrupted by someone else.

"AGH! WHO THE HECK ARE _YOU_? WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE BASEMENT OF KATE'S HOUSE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE AT _ALL_? DID _BRITTANY_ SEND YOU? THAT _EVIL_ PREPPY CHEERLEADER ZOMBIE! I'LL _KILL_ HER!" Sarah's tone bellowed dangerously as she began to lunge at the boys, but stopped when she heard a tiny murmur.

"...Newsies..."

"What?" Kristina got up and looked at Kaitlyn.

"...Why are they dressed like newsies...?" she repeated, a tad louder this time, her voice quaking a tad.

"Brittany knows we're obsessed with 'Newsies'... I bet this is her plan for vengeance!" Kristina glowered at the boys.

Kate swallowed hard. "...Revenge...? But... We_ never _did _anything_ to _her_...! ...Did we...?"

"On the second to last day of ninth grade at school, Sarah and I were in the cafeteria... Since you're a year younger than us, you had a different lunchtime. But anyway... Brittany was over at her usual popular table with her cronies as usual, and was standing up showing them her new white outfit. Sarah had some chocolate pudding that day in her lunch, and we flung it onto the back of her new designer skirt. Brittany tried to wipe it off, but it just smeared... Aaah, the fun! But ever since then, she's been out to get us." Kristina gave a shrug.

"Oh...! Um..." Kate glanced vulnerably around the room.

Again, the poor boy tried to speak. "Who're y-"

"She's totally _evil_!" Sarah exclaimed, turning to the boys. She placed a hand on each hip and pursed her lips. "Okay, we figured you guys out. Ha ha, very funny joke. She got her revenge on us. And she did a good job, too, I'll admit. You really got good costumes there. Now... How much did she pay you guys for this?"

"Who're you?" asked a brunette-haired boy, irritated and baffled by this awkward situation.

Kristina scoffed. "Like you don't already know!"

"And what're you'se talkin' about?" asked another boy with blondish orangish hair. There was an eye patch covering his left eye.

"And... W-what're ya wearin'...?" asked one with dark curly hair and oatmeal-colored skin who began to back up and look terrified.

"_Duh_! These are _pajamas_, Einstein!" Sarah yelled, waving her hands up in the air. "Don't play stupid with us! Now, if you could _please_, just... GET_ OUT_!"

"...Um... Uh... Ummm..." Kaitlyn seemed to feel herself shrinking in the room. But that was what she typically did in an awkward situation. She backed away and stayed out of it.

As the girls and boys began yelling and pointing at one another in frustration, Kaitlyn slumped to the floor, squeezed her plushie, and pulled a blanket over her head. She _hated_ loud noises. Especially _loud_ _arguments_. Besides, six strange boys in her home... Wouldn't that frighten _you_, too...?

"HEY, HEY, _HEY_! PUT A _LID_ ON IT!" One boy stepped forward, causing everyone to silence, so the only sound was the hammering sound of the rain thunking down onto the house. The boy's narrowed ice-cold eyes shifted. He slipped a golden-tipped black cane out from the loophole of his scarlet suspenders and pointed it at the girls threateningly. "Who're you goils? An' no smart-aleck answers!" he gritted through his teeth.

"Oooh, Mr. Impatient, now are we? _Psh_! Like you don't know who we are, shrimpy," retorted Sarah, rolling her eyes. "Brittany probably told _plenty_ about us."

Uh-oh... Bad response...

"OW!" she yelped at the boy bonked her on the head using his cane. "What's that thing _made_ out of, _iron_?"

He smirked in reply. "Wanna find out?" He walloped her again with his walking stick, only a bit harder than the first time.

"OWWW! STOP IT, SHORTY! ...That hurts..." Sarah stroked the bump on her head where the boy had bopped her.

"Spot, maybe you should ease off a little, ya know?" came another voice. It was the boy with the eye patch.

The one with the red suspenders looked over his shoulder. "Maybe. Foist, they'se gotta tell us who dey are."

"Okay, okay!" Sarah said with irritation.

Kaitlyn warily poked her head out from under the blanket, but only the girls seemed to notice.

"I'm Kristina," the blonde girl spoke in monotone, jerking a thumb at herself. She motioned to the girl dressed in black and red 'Emily the Strange' pajamas. "Sarah is the one with the little bump on her head now, an-"

"Hey!" Sarah scowled at her friend.

"Okay, okay... Sorry... Sheesh... And the quiet one over there," Kristina pointed to Kaitlyn, who had shedded her blanket cocoon and placed the dog plushie next to her, and was now sitting Indian-style on the carpet. "That's Kaitlyn."

At the mention of her name, her head snapped upward, but she didn't say a word.

"..._Finally _dey answer my question..." muttered the short boy with the cane.

The other boys murmured to each other and observed the room.

"Our turn," Kristina said. "Who are you, and why the heck are you guys dressed like the newsies? And _really_... _Honestly_... How _much_ did she _pay_ you...?"

The one with the cane, red suspenders, and slingshot in his right pocket puffed out his chest in a cheap attempt to look important and confident. "I'se Spot."

"...Spot's hot..." Sarah said quietly to herself, as she often did when she watched "Newsies".

"What did'ja say? Didn't catch dat."

"Huh? Oh! Nothing."

Spot shrugged it off. "Dat's Jack over dere, and David, Mush, Racetrack, an' Kid Blink," he said, pointing at each one as he listed their names.

"No," Kristina folded her arms across her chest. "We mean your _real _names."

"We told'ja," Spot spat, anger building within him. _Lord, these goils are annoying! _

"We'se dressed like newsies 'cause we are," Mush explained.

"Yah right, curly." Sarah exhaled deeply. _These stupid boys are so stinking stubborn! Why won't they just admit Brittany hired them to sneak in here and scare the stuffing out of us? I guess she really _did_ pay them a lot of money to be _this_ stubborn! _"...Brittany must have paid you boys a whole lot..."

"Umm... Sarah...?" Kaitlyn squeaked, gazing around the room at the boys.

"What, Kate?"

"..."

"What is it?"

The one supposedly called 'David' stepped up, just as confused as the others. "Who's this _Brittany_? And what do you mean she _paid_ us?"

"Well, didn't she-"

Just then, they heard some blaring noise, accompanied by a startled yelp from each newsie.

Kaitlyn sprinted over to a machine and turned its dial, making the volume of the sound much lower.

"Kid Blink," Kristina began, "I think you've just found Kaitlyn's stereo." She turned to her friends, and smiled broadly as Blink stepped back and blushed in embarrassment.

"What's dat?" asked a frightened 'Jack' in a thick New York accent. "I hear voices comin' from it... Sounds like dere's _people_ in dere..."

Mush shivered, then grimaced. "Maybe it's a torture chamber...! Goils, please don't put us in dere! I'se don't like small dark places!"

"It's _not _a torture chamber! It's a stereo. _Duh_!" Kristina stuck her tongue out at them. "Besides, we wouldn't be able to _fit _you in there!"

The group of boys let out a chorus of sighs of relief. Particularly Mush.

"What's dis do?" Racetrack reached down to the stereo on the coffee table and pushed a blue button on it.

"...Umm..." Kaitlyn slowly brushed off her pajamas. She was very tense.

The CD skipped to another track.

"Hey! It's my song!" Sarah said, beginning to sing along. "Coin operated boy, sitting on the shelf, he is just a toy. But I turn him on, and he comes to life; automatic joy. That is why I want a coin operated boy. Made of plastic and elastic, he is rugged and long lasting. Who could ever, ever ask for more-"

"What's this?" David picked up a small gray rectangular box.

"Gasp! Get your hands off the T.V. remote!" Kristina rushed over to grab the remote from him, but tripped and fell flat onto her face.

"Are you okay...?" Kaitlyn asked, outstretching a hand to help Kristina up.

"...Ugh... Aagh! Don't touch that remote!" Kristina grabbed Kate's hand and rushed over to David.

David pushed the largest button on the remote control, and the large T.V. turned on. "Whoa..."

"People are in dat box!" Mush and Blink exclaimed, eyes widening. "You said dat you couldn't put people in dere!"

"People don't go into televisions, genius," Sarah said.

"Let me see dat," Spot said, grabbing the remote from Davey and pressing some other buttons, causing the channel to switch to MTV. There on the screen was a blonde girl with a glittery, skimpy outfit on who was dancing around and singing a song.

"Uhh..." Kaitlyn's eyes widened.

Jack folded his arms across his chest and wrinkled his brow as if he'd never seen anything like that before, and wasn't sure he wanted to see anything like that ever again. "Who's dat?"

"...Britney Spears." Kaitlyn looked over at the boys. She had 'loathsome' written clearly on her face at the mention of that name.

"'Sat da Brittany goil you was talkin' 'bout earlier?" Blink inquired.

"No, but now that you mention it, they look alike and have a lot in common. Wait a second..." Kristina froze. "What the heck are you doing here in the first place?"

The Jack and the group of boys shrugged. "Dunno."

"Can I use the phone, Kaitlyn?"

"Um, sure, Sarah. What for...?"

"I'm going to call Brittany Andrews and see what this gag is all about." With that, she hurried up the stairs to the telephone.

-:-

_Okay, this prank is _really _creeping me out_, Sarah thought as she climbed the stairs.

Once she was at the top of the staircase, she took a left and snatched the phone angrily from atop the black microwave. _She is _so_ gonna pay for this..._

After furiously dialing Brittany Andrews' phone number, she held the cordless phone up to her ear.

_Ring, ring, ring... _

"She might not pick up the phone this late, but who cares," Sarah whispered irritably to herself. Glancing at the clock on the microwave, she noted that it was a little past four thirty in the morning. "Pick up, you evil person... Answer the _phone_, woman...!"

"Hello?" came a high voice from the other end of the line. From the sound of it, she was chewing bubble gum. _Probably doing her nails, too_, Sarah thought in repulsion. Sarah didn't have anything against painting nails, but it just irritated her when wicked girls like Brittany did it.

"Brittany. Hi." Sarah stood still and her back stiffened. Her voice was plainly aggravated.

"Oh... It's _you_." Brittany spat the word "you" as if it were a cuss word.

"So you think that's funny, do you?"

"Think what's funny, Sarah? If you're talking about your face or Kristina's or Kaitlyn's, then yes."

"No. You know what I'm talking about. Don't play _stupid_... Oh, _wait_. You don't have to _pretend_. You already _are_!"

"Remind me again why I'm wasting my precious time talking to a loser...?"

"Why did you send six boys dressed as newsies over here to Kaitlyn's house? You think that's funny? You are _so_ shallow..."

"What? I never did that. Why would I hire people to break and enter into someone's house?"

"How much did you pay them for it, hmm? I know you've got plenty of cash, but how much did you pay them?"

The attitude rung out unmistakably clear in her tone of voice. "Okay, I _may_ be _shallow_, but I'm not _that _low, loser."

And for some strange reason, Sarah had the feeling that Brittany was telling the truth for once.

"Okay... Sorry to bother you," Sarah said, and hung up the phone in a daze.


	3. Go Home Already!

**Author's Note -** I'm very sorry for not updating sooner! With all of the homework that's been dumped onto me, it was tough to find time to write. Nevertheless, here you go! ...Things will start to get more bizarre in the next few chapters... ;)

**_Happy 37th Birthday to Kevin Stea/Swifty:)_**

**Disclaimer - **I do not own "Newsies" or any of the newsboys. :( But I _do_ own Kaitlyn (me) and Brittany Andrews (original character). Kristina and Sarah belong to themselves.

**Shout-Outs -**

sweets09 - My pleasure! I'm very glad you like it. :)

xLittlexItalyx - Thank you! I'll update whenever I can.

RibbonHeidster - Thanks! I'm glad you like it and it makes you laugh. Can you guess why I called this crazy story "Pendemonium"? ((Laughs)) :D

Heavenly Princess - I'm overjoyed to hear you like it! n.n

Susie Minnesota - Thanks! I love to write, and most of it pours out naturally onto the paper (or in this case, onto Microsoft Word ((laughs)) ). I thought it would be interesting to set the boys in 2007. :)

sharpieKD - ((Laughs)) Good idea! I just might do that (later) in the story. :)

**Chapter III - Go Home Already!**

Sarah bounded down the stairs, still in astonishment. _Brittany didn't send the boys here to scare my friends and I for revenge...? If _she _didn't do it... Why in the _heck_ are they here...?_

As Sarah entered the basement family room, she found the boys poking random objects and pushing buttons on electronics, sitting on the couch, turning the volume on the television and the portable CD player up and down, as well as flipping through the channels.

"GASP! GIVE THAT BACK!" Kristina hollered at Racetrack, who had picked up something and held it close to his face in attempt to see what it was. She tried to snatch it from him, but he began running around the room with the small item, Kristina right on his tail. "YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

On the other side of the room, "Umm... Could you please not play with that...?" Kaitlyn asked in a small voice, sounding very apprehensive. "It's my dad's computer... He will be very upset if anything happens to it...!"

"Huh? Oh, dis thing? Sorry." Jack refrained from pressing buttons on the computer's light gray keyboard, but kept his eyes glued on it. A puzzling expression remained plastered onto his peach-colored face.

"Thanks," she said quietly, so Jack could scarcely hear her, but nodded in response.

"Hey, Blink!" Mush pointed to the small air hockey table. Two bright orange air hockey mallets were laid out on the table, along with three claret tinted air hockey pucks. "Wadda 'sppose dat is?"

"Dunno. Don't look like anythin' I'se ever seen." Mush and Blink walked over towards it, and began examining it.

Spot was still flipping channels on the Toshiba television set. His mouth was dropped a bit in awe, and his eyes were mesmerized onto the screen. With this magical "remote" device... He felt... He felt...

...In _control_.

In the meantime, Kristina was enraged as she ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, chasing after Racetrack. He was a pretty fast little guy, too. "STOP THAT! GIVE IT BACK! LET GO OF MY IPOD, YOU EVIL IPOD-STEALER PERSON!"

"I wanna see what it is!" he responded a bit cockily, a trace of whininess in his voice. He ducked beneath the air hockey table and bounded over the leather cream-colored chair, then accidentally slammed into Spot, who dropped the remote and stumbled a bit, but caught his fall.

Spot scowled at him as he carefully picked up the remote. "Watch where you'se goin', Race!"

Sarah's brow wrinkled and she gave them all a solemn look. Over the noise of the television, the stereo pumping out tunes, the quarrelling of the boys, and the shrieks of Kristina attempting to get her iPod back, she raised her voice. "_WHAT _IN THE _HOLY LLAMA SAUCE_ IS GOING _ON_ DOWN HERE?"

Everyone's bodies seemed to ice over. Each head slowly twisted around to see the livid face of Sarah, who was gnashing her teeth. Like in cartoons, when the characters were angry, her ears appeared to have a trace of steam fuming out of them.

"Okay," Sarah began, first addressing the two girls. "Brittany didn't send them." Whirling around to face the boys, she said, "Everybody. Out. NOW." The sternness in her tone echoed throughout the room.

"Uh... Umm..." Kaitlyn tensely tilted her head down so her long chocolate hair fell into her porcelain-white face. A row of sweat beads formed on her brow.

Kristina leaned over towards her and whispered in her ear. "Not you. The _boys_."

"...Umm... Umm..."

**-:-**

"Okay, boys," Kristina announced as they all entered the living room.

"Out you go!" finished Sarah, unlatching the front door and holding it for the young men to exit.

They exited one at a time, still looking very befuddled.

"Mine!" Kristina snatched her iPod back from Racetrack, who was examining the object just as he was exiting the house. When she took it back, he frowned.

"Go home!" And with that, Sarah slammed the door closed. "Sheesh!"

"...I wonder what _that_ was all about...?"

"Not sure, but it was pretty creepy." Kristina tucked her iPod safely away into her pajama pants pocket. "_Never_ in my sad little life have I seen _anything_ as disturbing as six guys dressed as newsboys in the basement." She shivered. "It's going to give me nightmares for a _month_! Maybe even a _year_!"

"...But we _did_ lock all of the doors and windows, though, before we went downstairs and went to sleep... Didn't we, Sarah? Kristina?" Kaitlyn glanced around helplessly, an uneasy expression dawning upon her pale face.

"Yah... We did. I think."

"Then how did they get in here if we locked everything?" Sarah shifted her weight from one foot to another.

Kaitlyn bolted the front door again, and the trio of friends checked every window and door in the house. If the six boys did sneak in, they would leave a trace of being there, since boys were... Well, let's just say that boys were... Um... Boys. And boys are usually messy and leave traces of where they've been by tracking dirt and mud, or something.

"Everything was locked. Everything was exactly as we left it. Nothing is out of place," Sarah explained when they were all back downstairs again. She was pacing back and forth in the family room. "So how did those guys get in here?"

"We should have asked them before they left," Kristina said, shaking her head in frustration.

"...Hey... What's this...?" Kaitlyn bent down and cautiously picked up something small from the ground. "...It's..."

Cringing, Kristina exclaimed, "EEEEWWW! Nasty! It's somebody's hanky!"

"...Um..." She felt her face warm up, and a string of sweat beads form on her forehead.

"Kate, that thing is disgusting. I think I'd put it in the trash if I were you."

She tilted her head, still holding onto the handkerchief, but now by the tips of her fingers. "...This red handkerchief doesn't look like it was used, though..."

Sarah edged closer to the hanky and examined it. "That's good. Maybe one of the boys who was here left it on accident."

"Yah, 'cause none of us have a hanky... Must be one of the boys'." Shrugging, Kristina added, "Oh well. What time is it?"

Upon seeing the glowing blue numbers on the alarm clock, Sarah jumped a bit. "Yikes! It's almost five thirty in the morning! No wonder I'm so exhausted..."

"...Me too... Perhaps we can sleep a few more hours before we do anything else... I could fall asleep right here, right now..."

"I thought you were a night owl, Kate."

"...Kristina, I _am_ a night owl... I get it from my dad... But I usually stay up until one or two in the morning... Not _five thirty_ in the morning...! That's _way_ too early...!" Kaitlyn chuckled. She covered her mouth with a hand and yawned quietly, dropping the scarlet handkerchief onto the off-white carpet with her left hand. She plopped down onto her bright blue and green sleeping bag on the floor in front of the T.V. and wriggled into it. "...I'm sorry, but I'm just too tired to stay up and concentrate on anything right now..."

"That's okay," replied Kristina, also getting into her sleeping bag, which was navy blue and gray. "I could use some more rest, too. After all, I _do_ need my beauty sleep!"

Sarah and Kaitlyn giggled. Sarah sat down onto the couch, and soon after, they were all out light a light.

**-:-**

The group of six newsies slouched as they left the house. The thick smoke-colored wisps of clouds still hang low over the busy city. The downpour was ongoing as it pounded down to the earth. The young men doubted it would let up soon.

"Dey kicked us out!" griped Mush, hanging his head low.

"Agh!" Jack held his arms above his head in attempt to shield his face from the harsh shower.

Racetrack folded his arms across his chest in attempt to keep warm, and exhaled deeply. Then asked flatly, his voice practically dripping with irony, "Now what?"

"Now we-"

_Honk! _An azure Astro van whizzed by the group of boys, splattering a huge puddle of water all over them and their clothes.

"Oh, god!" screamed the short black-haired Italian. His eyes had expanded to the size of fifty-cent pieces.

"What the heck was dat thing!" Spot demanded, his voice rising. He vigilantly slid his slingshot out of the front pocket of his brown pants.

They were already sopping wet and frustrated. Now they were even _more_ drenched and aggravated. Great. Just great... Just what they needed... A bunch of crabby newsies... Not!

Another vehicle drove by. A shiny black '98 Ford, to be precise.

"Oh, god!" The Italian kid was totally freaking out.

"There's people in dere!" noted Kid Blink, stunned. He was squinting to get a better look.

"What?" Jack was shocked.

"Those things that just went by," David began, "Look as if they're some breed of gigantic bugs!"

Another car drove by. There was a large blue bus behind it. The bus driver slowed to a stop near a small crowd of people who were huddled near a blue sign across the street. Once the doors of the bus had opened, the people hustled to climb aboard.

"Oh, god! Da bugs are eatin' da people!"

_Whap! _Spot had slapped the back of Race's head, and _hard_, too.

"What was _dat_ for!"

But all he received in reply was the legendary Spot Conlon glare and sneer.

The last of the people hurried on board the automobile, pushing and shoving each other to get on before the others.

"But those goils said dat they didn't put people in the boxes!" Mush frowned.

"Those ain't boxes, Mush! You weren't listenin', were ya? They'se bugs! Real big bugs! Those goils said dey don't put people in da boxes. Dey didn't say nothin' 'bout big bugs goin' around eatin' people! I mean, did you see? Da bugs had people goin' in 'em, so dey must've ate 'em! And did-"

"Blink."

"What?"

"Put a lid on it," Spot demanded. He was sodden wet, and his temper was on the brink of taking over.

Blink pursed his lips together and didn't breathe a word.

Spot fiddled with the wooden slingshot in his right hand, then tightened his grip on it.

The bus was on the other side of the street, a few yards to the right of the newsies. It made a _pssss_ noise as the automatic doors shut. The driver stopped the last person to climb aboard, though, and spoke with him for a moment. The young man who was talking to the bus driver began panicking and flailing his arms in the air, looking nervous and slightly scared. Actually, he didn't have enough money to pay for his bus fare, but the boys didn't know that...

Kid Blink noticed Spot messing with his slingshot. "Spot, shoot it! We'se can't let dat bug eat those people!"

Spot crinkled his nose and gave Blink an _are-you-out-of-your-mind!_ sort of look. Trying to keep his cool, he puffed out his chest. "No! Why should I? They ain't never done nothin' for me."

"C'mon, Spot! They can't just get away with eatin' people!" Mush chimed in.

David tensed up and rubbed his pruney hands together to try to warm up a little. "Uh, guys? Maybe we should just get out of here." Alas, they either didn't seem to hear him, or they were just ignoring him.

Racetrack was shivering like mad from the bitter rain.

Spot stood there with his chin in his hand. He was pretending to think about something.

"C-c-cold!" Mush whined again.

"Fine," he said flatly. He grabbed a small black marble from his front pocket. "Hope ya get a kick outta dis."

The bus' engine reared up, and it started again slowly, its swiftness gradually increasing.

Placing it in the marble in the slingshot, he pulled the rubber band back, cocked his head and closed one eye, he aimed for the "bug". _Okay... Wait... Steady... And... _

_Wssshhhhhh! _The small object flew and hit the bug square in the eye! Well, what they _thought_ was the bug's eye... Small pieces of it shattered once the marble hit it.

"YOU DANG KIDS!" scolded the person from inside the "bug" as it went by them. His face was red, and he had a crazed look in his bloodshot eyes. Waving a fist around in the air out of the "eye", he yelled at them again. "YOU STOP THAT, YOU HEAR? I COULD SUE YOU FOR THIS, YOU LITTLE BRATS! BUT I WON'T, BECAUSE I'M SUCH A NICE GUY! YOU HEAR?"

Utter silence.


	4. The Magic Cheese

**Author's Note -** I'm so sorry for not updating for so long! It doesn't really feel like it's been that long, though... Oh well. To make up for it, here's a seven-page long chapter for you. :) If you want to listen to the Nutcracker song (for a scene later on in the story) go to wavcentral(dot)com(slash)sounds(slash)unknown(slash)nutcracker1(dot)mp3 :D

**Happy Halloween!**

**Happy (late) 31st birthday, Dee Caspary/Snitch (October 21st, 1975).**

**Happy (late) 38th birthday, Mark David/Specs (October 27th, 1968).**

**Disclaimer -** I do not own any of the "Newsies", the song "Wait on the Sun" by Michele Williams, the "Nutcracker" song, or the song "Superstar" by Toy-Box. I _do_ own Kaitlyn and Brittany Andrews. Sarah, Kristina, Taylor, and Mittens (the cat) belong to themselves.

**Shout-Outs -**

**RibbonHeidster -** Thanks! Yes, this is going to be one crazy and fun story! ((Laughs))

**xLittlexItaly** - Thank you! I really hope you enjoy this chapter! It's not quite as funny as the others (in my opinion), but it'll get even funnier as the story progresses!

**Socks5454** - Yah... I thought it would be funny to have the cars seem like "big bus" to them, since they are from the 19th century... :)

**SusieMinnesota **- I'm glad you like my story! I hope you like this chapter!

**Chapter IV - The Magic Cheese**

The cluster of newsboys stood silent as stones as the "bug" crawled away.

David wrinkled his brow in uncertainty. "What just happened here?"

Spot looked over at him. "Just what ya saw."

"Okay..."

"What's with all these wild bugs?" Race inquired quietly, mentally praying Spot wouldn't hear and whack him for a second time.

"I dunno," Jack admitted, "But we'se better be careful 'round here."

"If any of 'em try to mess with us, I'se gonna soak 'em good." A devious grin formed Spot's wet face as his lips curled up into a sneer.

Jack gave him 'the _look_'. "No, you'se _not_ gonna. We'se gotta stick together. We gotta be careful the bugs don't get to us, so we have ta find a place to-"

It was then that they became aware of a black '01 Chevy Astro van. It was pulling up in front of houses, one at a time, then halted abruptly. Each time the "insect" stopped, a young person would rush out with something small and orange in his hands, then scuttled back inside.

Mush opened his jaw a little. "Uhh, why's dat person getting' in and outta the bug?"

"Look! It's gettin' closer," Blink stated as the "bug" inched closer and closer.

"Whadda we do?" A panicked expression adorned Mush's face. He was rocking back and forth on his feet impatiently.

"Uhh..." They all stood there, looking around at each other for a suggestion, but no one spoke up.

Kid Blink said in a nervous singsong voice, "It's gettin' closer!"

The sleek dark van was getting nearer... And nearer... And nearer, still...

It was pulling up in front of Kaitlyn's house, approaching the newsboys. Each boy felt his hair on the back of his neck prick upward; their bodies tense up with alarm.

The van was two mere yards away from them when it hit the brakes again.

"Oh. My. God." Racetrack whispered under his breath.

They were all silent for a moment. Then...

"TAKE _THIS_, YA DIRTY ROTTEN _SCABBER_!!!" shrieked Spot suddenly, hastily loading his weapon with ammo, which was a small gray marble. He swiftly pulled slingshot back and aimed it. Spot crinkled up his nose as if he had just gotten a whiff of the Bronx Newsboy's Lodging House bathrooms. "_NOBODY_ MESSES WITH _SPOT CONLON_!!!" And with that, he let the ammo fly. It whizzed over straight into the "bug's eye", shattering it to billions of pieces. Right when the guy was climbing out of the bug, too...

"WHOA! What the _heck_ do you kids think you're _doing_?!?" hollered the man who climbed out of the bug in a knit wool cap and coat. His face flushed the shade of a hot pepper, as did the face of the older man inside the bug.

"You tryin' to break our car or something, you little _punks_?!?" He quickly tossed some small orange package onto the doorstep of Kaitlyn's blue house and jumped inside the car. He said something to the other man in the car, but the boys couldn't hear what he was saying. The bearded one nodded hastily and grinned mischievously, a dark gleam in his eyes.

"Hey, uh, fellas," David said, vigilantly backing up. "I don't like the look of this... We better get out of here..."

Jack's teeth chattered again. This downpour was getting on his nerves. "Yah... Dave's right."

The short Irish boy scoffed. "I can take 'em! I'se Spot Conlon!" he smirked.

Racetrack began to step backwards. "You ain't gonna be 'Spot Conlon' any more 'less we get outta here..." He pointed his index finger at the humongous bug, which was now growling and roaring with rage.

Suddenly, the black creature charged directly towards them with an astonishing velocity.

For a split second, they all stood there. Each had the expression on their face like a deer in headlights. Their mouths felt dry, and tasted like pennies.

"...Oh God," Race muttered under his breath. No one else had heard what he had said, but every single newsboy was thinking the _exact _same thing. Their eyes had expanded to the size of a set of car tires as they felt their bodies grow colder.

The newsies swiveled around and scampered down the street, away from the bug. They zipped along the streets like video game character, Sonic the Hedgehog, which Kaitlyn's little brother, Taylor, was obsessed with.

"AAAAHHH!!!" cried Blink and Mush in unison. The boys were pushing each other out of the way to escape the vile, man-eating creature. The newsboys swiveled into the street, avoiding passersby who were taking their sweet time strolling along the sidewalk with their umbrellas.

They didn't care where they went, as long it was away from that... that... _carnivore_... thing...

David was near the back of the group, since he was not as speedy as the rest of the boys. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he shoved past a few people who were crossing the road.

A four-way intersection lay close ahead of them. Since it was about six-thirty in the morning, each of the four intersections was crammed with a long line of cars, with citizens inside their vehicles waiting anxiously to get to work early.

The man in the passenger seat of the angry bug held a tiny silver rectangular object out the window for a moment, it flashed a small light, then he quickly put it away.

"HEY!!!" the guys in the black bug shouted as the boys' paces sped up more rapidly. They didn't take their glinting eyes off of the young men. "YOU _KIDS'LL_ BE _PAYING_ FOR THIS BROKEN _WINDOW_!!!" the driver screamed, waving his fist at the boys as the bug inched closer and closer to the boys, who were now running on the sidewalk as fast as their feet would carry them. "YOU OWE US TH-" The bug screeched to a loud halt abruptly, colliding sideways with into the back of another insect. _CRASH!_ The bugs' outer shells indented, some paint was chipped, and the van had tipped sideways onto the back of the car from the abrupt stop.

"HOLY – MMMPHHHHHPPHH!!!" he screamed through a bulky, swollen, white object that had just popped up from the bug, covering his face.

"HEY! YOU! Like, watch where the heck you're going, dude! That's _not _cool at _all_ to crash into someone's new car! And you smashed my trunk! It's full of new Juicy, Gucci, and Louis Viutton clothes! And my new cashmere sweaters! _Agh_! I _hate_ you! I'm _so_ going to smash you into the ground, you _turd_!"

"MPPHHHHH!!!"

One of the red lights on the traffic light changed to a lime green, and the vehicles in the front began rolling forward.

"Once more," the newsboys whispered to Spot.

He gave them a funny look. "...Fine." With that, he shot another marble at the bug, and it made a small dent on the top of the car. Luckily, no one really seemed to notice. Especially because there was a bigger problem to worry about.

"Know what, loser?" the blonde teenager in the car called again. "I just got this Mustang, like, _two weeks ago_! I'm, like, _so_, totally gonna sue you!"

_Honk, honk, honk! _"Come on, people! We have to get to work, too, you know!" called out the irritated drivers behind them. The line of cars was piling up. "Come on! We can't wait all day! I'm going to be late for an important staff meeting!"

"WHAAA?!?" He shoved the white poofy object down from his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration, his lips were shut tight together, and his whole body was shaking with rage. "You can't sue me, little missy!"

"Like, I _so_ totally _can_, you brainless _jerk_!" The blonde girl stepped out of the car, pulling up the hood of her designer jacket.

"It's not my fault!!"

"Hmm... Then who else could have badly dented my new red car, hmm? I don't see any other person in the driver's seat!" She kicked the black bug hard with her tall platform shoes, creating an impression of her shoe print in the car's roof.

A man poked his head out of an automobile. "Helloooo? We need to get to work here!"

_Now's our chance to get outta here_, Jack thought, edging away. "C'mon, fellas, let's go!" Jack hissed at his friends, motioning away from the havoc.

_Whrrrr, whrrrr, whrrrr! _A siren rang out through crisp summer air.

The girl sneered as she made her way back into her red Mustang. "Good," she told herself. "It's the police. Now they can arrest this thick-headed loser."

"Shoot!" the men exclaimed when they heard the siren. A colorful rainbow of vocabulary words spewed from the corners of their mouths.

Jack, David, Spot, Mush, Blink, and Racetrack took off faster than you could say, "Carryin' the banner".

**-:-**

Sarah, Kristina, and Kaitlyn, all laid peacefully slumbering. There was the sound of the rain pouring down outside in addition to an occasional snore, but it was otherwise fairly noiseless.

Kristina rolled over onto her side, muttering in her sleep. "..._Snzz_... Uh-uh... You monkeys... are _not_ going to... take over... my banana... island... _Snzz_..."

Sarah laid with her jaws half open, a tiny puddle of drool on her down feather cushion.

Kaitlyn was curled up in a ball on her left side, like a cat. "...No... No...!" She shook her head a bit, then continued. "...Taylor... don't... Don't burn my 'Newsies' DVD...! Uah!" Kaitlyn bolted upright in panic. She had just awakened from a horrible nightmare. Her younger brother always threatened to burn her most precious item, her 'Newsies' DVD, but never actually did. Only in her nightmares. But, _if_ he _did _burn the DVD, his sister would probably kill him. Not _literally_, of course!

She shivered. "...That's so weird... It's freezing down here... Why is it this chilly in summertime...?" She hoisted herself up and flicked on the old-fashioned lamp on her father's computer desk. She stood on her tiptoes and reached up for the electric heater. She was a short five feet tall, but she managed to turn the dial of the radiator to medium warmth. Kate folded her arms across her chest, rocking back, then forth on the heels and tiptoes of her feet.

She lay down again, but couldn't to go back to sleep. Typically, when she was awake, she had a hard time getting back to slumber again.

"...Kristina...? Are you awake...?" she called softly.

"..._Snnzzzzz_..."

"...I'll take that as a 'no'..." Kate wiggled around in her sleeping bag. "...Sarah...? What about _you_...?"

Sarah merely grunted. "..._Guhhh_..."

Kaitlyn exhaled deeply. _Now what should I do...? _

"_Mrow_?" The whine was loud and clear as a whistle.

"Mittens!" she scolded under her breath, grabbing the cat and gently covering his mouth with a hand. "You turkey...! Shh...! Don't wake them...!" She sighed for the umpteenth time. _...What is wrong with me...? I'm so bizarre... I'm talking to my cat like he is actually listening to me...! Of course, I have always done that, but still... Agh! I'm so weird... I'm confusing myself right now... _

She tenderly stroked his gingery coat of fur with her delicate hand. Mittens' fur was velvety soft and fluffy, like the pale pink and white fleece robe her mother had sewn and given to her on Christmas a few years ago.

"..._Mmph_..." Kaitlyn heard. It sounded like someone was stretching. There was another sound, as well... Something was growling softly.

"...Umm..." She bit her lower lip, not knowing what to do or say at the moment.

"...Oh, Kate... You're up, too," yawned Kristina as she extended her arms above her head and stretched like a cat.

"...Umm... Yes... You can't sleep any more either...?" She noted the dark circles around the bottoms of Kristina's eyes. _I probably have some circles under my eyes, too_, she thought.

"I guess I could sleep some more. I'm kinda hungry, though..." Just then, the low rumbling noise sounded yet again, causing the two to grin and giggle. Kristina pointed to her stomach. "See what I mean? It's saying, 'Feed me, Kristina!'"

Kaitlyn nodded, still laughing. She and Kristina made sure not to make too loud of noises, seeing as Sarah was still snoozing on the tan floral-patterned couch.

Kristina craned her head to view the numbers on the electric alarm clock. "What?" she hissed. "Eight-thirty in the morning? We only got three hours of sleep? That sucks." She spread her arms out in a T shape and allowed herself to fall backwards onto her sleeping bag and miniature mountain of pillows once more. _Thunk._ "BLECH. I'm gonna lay here a while, 'cause I feel like it."

"Okay... I think I will lay down for a bit, too..."

**-:-**

_Tap, tap, tap! _The newsies jogged a few blocks. Panting, they stopped for a short break. They weren't out of breath because they were tired from running... Back home, they ran away _all_ the time. Like if they were being chased by the bulls, or when they improved the truth on headlines a little _too_ much... Mental note: Customers can be very scary when mad.

But the boys were wheezing because they were so scared, and had no clue about what just happened.

"Well," Racetrack huffed, "Whadda... we do... now...?"

"Uh," David's teeth chattered together. He folded his arms across his chest in a poor attempt to keep warm. It wasn't much use, since it was raining as hard as earlier. David covered his nose and mouth, then made a funny face. "A-_choo_!"

Racetrack looked around for a minute. "Sure are a lotta buildings 'round here..."

"Hey, look! There's a buildin' across the street!"

"Well, ain't you got the high brow, Blink," Spot grunted.

"Yah, but it looks kinda like the grocery store by the Manhattan lodging house," Blink said.

Mush's face lit up. "You'se right! It does!"

"Looks like it's open, too." Jack took a step forward.

Spot stepped into the street. "Let's go, fellas."

**-:-**

"School's out, summer's comin'. 'Bout time we had some fun. Days with you, and nights with our friends, yah. We don't have very long. Two months, and you'll be gone. So we have got to make it last somehow. Take our memories and rang them, that's all we got to satisfy. Wait on the sun, 'till you can come. Time to be creative. Efficiently, wish it could be summer every day. I'll wait on the sun. I'll wait on the sun. It gets so complicated when we get separated. Four years, it's too long to wait, yah. Take our destinies and place them together for the end of time. Wait on the sun-"

"...Stop singing that Michele Williams song, you evil llama murderers..." Sarah groggily said. She rolled over to her side. "_Whoa_!" But instead, she ended up rolling onto the carpet... "Grr..." She rubbed her eyes and yawned sleepily. "You two should be listing to Linkin Park or Evanescence or something..."

Kaitlyn "...Oh...! You're up, Sarah... Good morning."

"'Morning, Sarah," Kristina said.

"'Morning... Can you change the CD? Sorry, but my little sister listens to this song all the time at home and it drives me crazy..."

"Okay... Umm... What about Ayumi Hamasaki, Kumi Koda, or Namie Amuro...?"

"Nah... I'm not really up for Japanese... Maybe later... Is Evanescence okay for you and Kristina?" Sarah asked. She preferred American rock and gothic music.

"No, it's too depressing. Let's listen to something happy and upbeat!" Kristina was sitting Indian-style on her sleeping bag, grooving to the music playing in her head. "What about the 'Superstar' song?"

Kaitlyn clasped her hands together and smiled. "Yah! That'd be good...! What do you think, Sarah...?"

Sarah sat up and grinned. "Yah! Absolutely! That song cracks me up!"

"Okay, here it goes!" Kristina popped the Michele Williams CD out of the stereo and placed the Toy-Box band's CD in. "Mm-hmm!" She skipped to the 'Superstar' track, and they all sang along to the track.

"I am a superstar, with a big, big house and a big, big car. I am a superstar, and I don't care who you are. I am a superstar, with a big, big house and a big, big car. I am a superstar, and I don't care who you are. Got many money, honey, I'm a superstar. My life is funny, honey, have you seen my car? I know a lot of people, I'm a superstar. Everybody knows me, right from near to far. I got a plane. I love the fame. You know my name, and I just want you to know, I am a superstar with a big, big house and a big, big car-"

"Hey! What are you doing, Kaitlyn?" Kristina and Sarah asked, referring to Kaitlyn spinning the volume of the CD player off.

"...I was just thinking... About last night... Do you think it was real...? Or did the cheese really work...?"

Crinkling her brow, Sarah said, "Cheese? _What_ cheese?"

"What do you mean 'Was it real'? I think it was the cheese." Kristina shrugged. She began swaying back and forth to some rhythm only she could hear.

"_What_ cheese?!"

"...Well... Don't you remember last night...? Before we all went to bed...?"

"Uh, no. Not really..."

"...Kristina said that she read in some book that if some friends all eat cheese before they go to sleep, they'd all have the same dream..."

"Oh yah! Duh," Sarah rolled her eyes at herself. "Sorry. I kind of forgot..."

"Hmm..." Kristina bit her bottom lip and looked up at the ceiling. "_I_ think it was a _dream_. That was _way_ too weird to be real. We were all _really _tired, as well. Besides..." She gazed back at her friends with a grave face. "The mystical power of the cheese is _real_." This made her and her friends burst out into gigglees.

**-:-**

"So this is the grocery store?"

"Yup."

There were people inside, bustling about. Mothers were filling their shopping carts full of food for their families, the staff was stocking the shelves, and some random teenage person in a store vest was doing the chicken dance.

The six boys stepped up to the large building. It was tinted a depressing gray, had abundant windowpanes, and a neon store trademark sign hung above the doors.

"Wow! The letters are glowin'!" Mush referred to the sign in awe.

"Let's go inside, fellas." Jack motioned them to follow him.

They sauntered up to the entrance of the store when something very peculiar occurred...

"WHOA!" Everyone leapt back and tensed up. They stared hard at the doors for a short while.

_What just happened here?_ they pondered.

Cautiously on his tiptoes, Racetrack stepped up to the doors again. As soon as it happened again, he leapt back.

"OH MY GOD!" Race's left eye twitched, making him look a bit insane. "The doors are openin' by _themselves_!!!"

"Strange," David noted inquisitively.

Blink glanced around uncomfortably. "Whadda we do now?"

Silence.

"...Uh... Anybody got any ideas?"

"Hmm..."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Dave?"

"Nothing."

"I wanna see that again." Spot stepped up to the doors. When they opened, he jumped back, but recovered his coolness quickly.

"Leeme try." Jack stepped up to the entrance. He bolted backwards when they opened. "Whoa!"

"They open when we stand in front of 'em, an' close when we step away from 'em," Blink observed.

Mush looked up at the gray cloud-filled sky, and the aquamarine drops falling to the earth. The rainfall hadn't let up too much, but a little less rain was better. "Well, now what?"

David's ears perked up. He gazed up at his friends. "We could hurry and run through the doors when they open up. That would mean that someone has to stand in front of the doors so they can open, though... But at least we could go inside and dry off..."

"Good idea, Dave. Who agrees with David? Then we can go in there," he pointed to the store, "And dry off an' warm up."

A chorus of many "Yah!" and "I do!" responses resulted.

Jack nodded. "Okay, are we ready?"

"Yah!"

"Okay." Jack clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "Now... Who's gonna stand in front of the doors and make 'em open?"

Silence...

Dead silence...

"Well, I'se goin' in last. I don't like that thing..." He glared at the doors spitefully.

"Okay, then, Race. I'll stand in front of the door," Jack shrugged. He didn't look too nervous, but deep down, he was freaking out. _What's this thing that opens the doors? What if it hurts us...? What if-...? What if-...?_

Spot's expression hardened to a solemn look. "Let's do this, men."

**-:-**

"...I don't think that's necessarily true, Kristina..."

"Yah, it totally is!" Kristina snapped.

"Well, just because Kaitlyn and I are not that good at this doesn't mean we'll never be," Sarah said, trying to be helpful.

"...Um..." Kaitlyn could feel sweat beads forming on her upper brow. Her eyes kept transfixed on her bare feet. Her waist-length hair fell around her face. She felt her face redden. "...Truly, I don't think I could cook to save my life..."

"Yah, you could!" Sarah said, using the back of her hand to brush her black bangs out of her emerald eyes. "Now, let's help our 'Chef Kristina' here cook. It's not fair if she has to make breakfast for all of us by herself."

Kaitlyn nodded warily.

Kristina raised an eyebrow. "Uhh, Kate?"

"...Yes...?"

"Remember last month when you were helping Sarah and I bake and decorate that cake for my sister's thirteenth birthday?"

"...Yes...?" She felt her face burning.

"Remember how when it said in the instructions to add two egg _whites_, you added the _whole_ eggs, yolk and _all_?"

Kaitlyn said nothing. She just let more hair fall into her face.

"Remember how you added way too much flour, so we had to add more of everything else to even it out? ...It turned out all nasty and slimy..."

Silence.

"And when we asked you to help make the frosting color instead, you, by mistake, turned it puke green?"

No response.

"Well, I think you better not help cook this time," Kristina laughed.

Kaitlyn was quiet.

"Are you okay? I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything..." She was just joking. It was true that Kaitlyn was a horrible cook, but Kristina didn't mean to upset her friend.

She noticed her timid friend begin to shake a bit. A small sound escaped her lips.

"Seriously, Kate... Are you okay...?"

"Katie?" Sarah frowned.

But... She seemed to be giggling, not crying. She lifted her head up, brushed the hair from her face, and smiled. "...I'm a horrible cook, unlike Kristina... But not everyone can be perfect...!"

"So true!" Sarah laughed along with Kaitlyn and Kristina. "So true!"

**-:-**

"All right... Are we ready?"

"I guess..."

"Okay... On my count," Jack said. His stomach felt like it did when he ate Kloppman's cooking at the lodging house. And that was really, really, _really_ bad.

"Brace yourself," he whispered. Jack ran up to the door, and its doors opened. "GO!" he shrieked to his friends, his voice cracking a little.

"Squeak, squeak!" Race mocked him jokingly.

Jack was ticked off by this snide comment. "JUST GO!"

"Right!" they nodded. "_HUUUAAAAAHHHHH_!!!" Most of the boys dashed through the store doors as fast as their feet would carry them. "WhoooooooOOOOO-_AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH_!!!" It seemed as if _gallons_ of water dripped off of them onto the sleek black and white floors. As they ran, they flailed their arms around like anime characters that were angry or frustrated, trying to keep their balance. Water dripped off of them and they slid across the floor like beginning ice skaters a skating rink. "_AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH_!!!" You could just _hear _the oh-so-_elegant _Nutcracker theme playing in the background...

"Comin' in!" Jack shouted as he followed suit into the store. "Wha-? _WHHHHOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAA_!!!"

And so there it was... The store employees were gawking in shock at the chaotic scene, jaws dropped, eyes ogled out.

Five boys dressed as newsies slipping and sliding across the slippery floors, screaming and thrashing their arms and legs about. "_AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH_!!!" They glided across the newly polished floors like pucks on an air hockey table. "_WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH_!!!"

Mush and Kid Blink had slid and crashed into a large shelf of neatly stacked canned corn. "_AAAAHHHHHH_!!!" They used their arms to cover their heads as the canned goods began falling down onto them. "_OWW_!!!"

"_WWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHHH_!!!" David, Spot, and Jack were all sliding on their backs and fronts, bowling over people in the isles. "_AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH_!!!"

Another scream rang out, too... One that they knew _very _well...

"_RACE_?!?" Jack hollered, still spinning in circles down the slick floors of the aisles.

"_AAAAHHHHHH_!!! THANKS A _LOT_ FOR _ALL_ OF YOUR _HELP_, GUYS!!!" Race screeched.

The boys attempted to stand up, but kept slipping. "WE'SE COMIN', RACE!!!"

"_AAAHHHH_!!!"

"WE'SE COMIN'!"

Blink and Mush tossed the cans off of themselves, then raced over to the door.

Sure enough, the door had caught the bottom of Race's pants and part of his vest in the doors!

Four newsboys danced around in front of the door uneasily, trying to get it to open.

Nothing.

The employees just stared, stunned by this... Umm... _Unusual_ event.

David stood back a little. "Why won't it open?"

"AAAAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGG!!!" Blink and Mush tugged on Race's arm to pull him from the door.

_Pop! _

Racetrack bit his lower lip. "Yah, ya _hear_ that? THAT WOULD BE MY _ARM_! _OW_!!"

A piece of Race's vest and pants were still caught between the doors.

"_UGH_! IT'S _EATIN'_ RACE!!! DON'T WORRY RACE! WE'SE GONNA GET YOU OUTTA THERE!" Jack pulled and tugged on Racetrack, whose clothes were still stuck in between the tightly closed doors.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT _IS _THIS THING?!? GOD! GET ME _OUTTA_ THIS THING!!!"

"WHOA!" Spot slipped again and fell down on his bottom. He felt fury pulsing through his veins, and he was shaking. He began to grind his teeth in aggravation.

Meanwhile, David had made it over to Racetrack and helped Jack, Mush, and Kid Blink pull his clothes out from in between the doors.

"THANK _GOD_!" Race cried in relief, stumbling forward, slipping, and colliding into the pile of corn cans Mush and Blink had crashed into. "_OOF_!"

No one said a word. All the mothers had covered their childrens' eyes, as well as their own.

Then, over the intercom came a deep, monotone voice...

"Cleanup on aisles four through seven... And maintenance needs to be done on the doors, which are not working properly..."


	5. NOTICE!

Okay... First of all, no, I am **not** going to quit writing this story... I'm too into it for that... :) It's just that I have come up with another really exciting element to add to the story plot. It'll make the story more interesting and fun to read (and for me to write)... Hence, I am going to improve/rewrite it. It should be posted soon, so keep an eye (Kid Blink! lol) open for it. :)

Kabellia (A.K.A. Mouse)


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